Dispensing carton



July 6, 1943.

K. J. HARWOOD DISPENSING CARTON Filed April 12, 1939 2 Shets-Sheet l Julv 6, 1943. J woo 2,323,395

DISPENSING CARTON Filed April 12, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented July 6, 1943 DISPENSING CARTON Kenneth J. Harwood, Neenah, Wis., assignor to International Cellucotton Products Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Delaware Application April 12, 1939, Serial No. 267,433

3 Claims.

This invention relates to dispensing cartons and particularly to dispensing cartons for interfolded sheet material such as is commercially known under the name cleansing tissue." The main objects of the invention are to provide a dispensing carton particularly adapted for successively dispensing or permitting withdrawal of interfolded sheets from a stack thereof contained within the carton; to provide a carton with means for facilitating such dispensing of the sheets and wherein a portion of a sheet will be maintained in exposed and readily accessible position to facilitate its withdrawal; to provide a dispensing arrangement wherein the exposed or accessible sheet is eifectively held against slipping back into the carton with consequent inconvenience in respect of subsequent withdrawal of sheets; to provide a dispensing arrangement which will effectively prevent the withdrawal of a continuity of interfolded sheets even though they may be bonded as an incident to certain fabricating operations; to provide a carton which will maintain the sheets in a clean, sanitary condition; and in general, it is the object of the invention to provide an improved arrangement for packaging and facilitating the dispensing of interfolded sheets.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be understood by reference to the following specification and accompanying drawings (2 sheets) wherein there is disclosed an improved dispensing carton and interfolded sheet package of the character indicated.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective of a dispensing carton embodying one form of the invention;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the dispensing carton structure shown in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a plan illustrating the relationship of interfolded sheets before the interfolding is effected;

Figures 5 and 6 are perspective and fragmentary plan views, respectively, of a dispensing carton embodying another form of the invention;

Figures 7 and 8 are perspective and fragmentary plan views, respectively, of a further form of the invention; and

Figures 9 and 10 similarly illustrate still another carton construction embodying the present invention.

Referring now to the drawings, the dispensing carton. and package construction shown. in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive, comprises a more or less conventional paperboard box having a top wall l5 of a. length which approximates or is slightly larger than the corresponding dimension, i. e.,

width, of the interfolded sheets which are packaged within the carton. The width of the carton similarly approximates or is slightly greater than the corresponding dimension of the folded and interfolded sheets. The depth of the cart'on may be made to suit the number of sheets to be packaged within the carton.

As shown in Figure 2, the carton I5 is adapted to contain a stack'lG -of folded and interfolded sheets. Such a stack is preferably formed of two webs of sheet material such as ,cleansing tissue or the like and each 0. the webs may comprise one or more plies of the sheet material. For example, cleansing tissue now commercially available most often comprises two plies of tissue, in which case each of the two webs designated Mia and l6b, respectively, would be of two-ply thickness. In the operation of folding'and interfolding such webs of material, one web is slitted as indicated at I 1, usually so as to leave small bonds indicated at l8 between the adjacent sheets. Such bonds provide a continuity of the adjacent sheets and in some respects are desirable, particularly in that they tend to insure successive feeding of one sheet after another. The second Web l6b is similarly slitted as indicated at H but the lines of slitting in the web IBb are disposed intermediate the lines of slitting in the sheet I611. The webs Ilia and I6b, in the folding and interfolding operation, are folded together alternately in opposite directions along lines coinciding with the lines of slitting so that in the stack IS, the slitted edges of each sheet are enclosed within folds IQ of the other sheet.

For dispensing such interfolded sheets, the top wall l5 of the carton is provided with an opening 20 which, in the arrangement shown in Figures 1 to 3, extends transversely of the length of the top wall but terminates in pointed ends somewhat short of the front and back edges of said wall. The width of the opening 20 is relatively small as compared with the corresponding dimension, 1. e., the width of the sheets which are to be withdrawn through the opening, so that it isnecessary to gather the sheets transversely of their width in order to withdraw them through the'opening. Incident to such gathering of the sheets and their normal resilient tendency to expand, the sheets frictionally bear against the edges of the opening 20 with suiiicient force to effectively prevent the sheets from falling back into the box. This is a highly advantageous effect especially when the package contains a large number of sheets, for example, five hundred sheets, under which circumstances the package may be in the neighborhood of 4 or 4 in depth. In that case the normal weight of the sheet portion suspended from the top of the box when the level of the stack of sheets is fairb' low within the container, is often sufllcient to have a materia1 tendency to cause the exposed or leading end of the sheet to fall back into the container. Such tendency is effectively overcom by the described dispensing opening arrangement.

The described dispensing arrangement is also of considerable advantage where the interfolded sheets are bonded together, as already explained, in that the resistance to withdrawal of the sheets incident to the frictional engagement of the gathered sheets with the dispensing opening edges is effective to cause the bonds l8 to break when the withdrawing force is applied to the preceding sheet. Hence, the tendency of the bonds It! to cause the sheets to be withdrawn in an endless continuity is effectively overcome. It is understood, of course, that due to the interfolded arrangement of the sheets, the top fold of each sheet is automatically withdrawn through the dispensing opening as an incident to the withdrawal of the bottom fold of the first sheet, so that upon withdrawal of one sheet, the next sheet is caused to project and be readily accessible on the top of the package for subsequent withdrawal. The more or less pointed end form of the slot as shown in Figs. 1 and 3 is particularly desirable in that the pointed end edges tend to guide the folding or gathering of the tissues, incident to their withdrawal, into fairly tight (but not sharp) folds which causes the leading sheet to have a desirable frictional grip upon the following sheet.

One commercial package of the type illustrated in Figure 1 measures approximately 10" in length, 4 in width and 4 in depth. The dispensing opening 20 measures approximately 1" across the point of greatest width thereof, and approximately 4" in length. Such proportions have been found to be highly effective for the purposes and in the manner explained.

In the arrangement shown in Figures 5 and 6, the dispensing opening 20 is provided with lips 2|, 2| formed by slitting the top wall of the package as indicated in Figure 6, said lips being bendable outwardly along suitable score or crease lines indicated at 22. The free edges of the lips 2|, 2| engage the sheets indicated at 23 with the same or somewhat greater gripping effect than is obtained in the cut-out opening arrangement shown in Figures 1 to 3, inclusive. The arrangement of bendable lips may be somewhat advantageous in that they tend to close the opening so as to thereby more fully exclude dust from the interior of the carton, and, of course, the increased gripping effect may be advantageous in respect of certain types of sheet material.

In Figures 7 and 8 there is illustrated another lipped dispensing opening arrangement, wherein the opening is formed by slitting the wall of the carton along a pair of transversely extending lines indicated at 24 and 25. Such slits provide outwardly bendable ears 26 which permit the sheets 23 to be withdrawn in substantially the same manner and subject to the same restricting force as explained in connection with Figures 1 to 6, inclusive. If desired, the top wall of the container may also be creased as indicated at 21 to facilitate said outward bending of the lips 23.

The maximum dimension across the opening in the arrangement shown in Figures 7 and 8 in one practical embodiment of the invention is 2 inches, but it will be apparent that it may be considerably larger, inasmuch as the lips tend to come together so as to provide the desired restriction against movement of the sheets through the opening. Also, the lips may be more than four in number as illustrated, and the outline of the lipped area may be circular instead of square as shown.

In Figures 9 and 10 there is disclosed an arrangement which is especially adapted for use in connection with deep packages. As therein shown, the top wall l5 of the container is equipped with a dispensing opening 28, which terminates in a pointed end 29 within the area of the top wall and extends and terminates in a pointed end 30 in a side wall 3| of the carton. The dispensing slot 28 is also augmented or supplemented in the side wall 3| by means of bendable ears 32 and 33, which are formed by slitting the said side wall as indicated at 34 and 35 and creasing as indicated at 36 and 31. The ears 32 and 33 thus formed are adapted to be bent outwardly to permit the sheets 23 to be withdrawn from the carton through the front wall of the carton as indicated in Figure 10, especially in connection with extra deep cartons. Obviously, however, the said combination top and side wall dispensing arrangement may be employed with cartons of shallow depth if desired, although there appears to be less desirability of front wall dispensing in relatively shallow cartons such as typified by those containing, say, two hundred sheets.

The bonding of the sheets as already explained is more or less a requirement for the satisfactory operation of mechanism employed for folding and interfolding the sheets. Most eflicient operation of the mechanism requires a fairly strong bond between the sheets but strong bonds have heretofore been objectionable because, in a dispensing package, they would not always break and perniizit withdrawal from the package of a single shee In the described dispensing opening arrangement, the gripping eifect of the edges of the opening adequately resist withdrawal of succeeding sheets, causing breakage of the bonds between the leading pulled sheet, even though the bonds are of considerably greater strength than has heretofore been considered practicable for packages of the character herein contemplated. Hence the described dispensing opening arrangement permits the use of stronger bonding between the sheets and thus insures proper following of one sheet after another in the process of dispensing the sheets. In other words, the strengthened bonding insures that a following sheet will not prematurely be separated from a leading sheet and fall back into the box. The strengthened bonding also has the important advantage of facilitating the automatic folding and interfolding of the sheets, including sharper folding thereof with consequent reduction in bulk of a given number of folded and interfolded sheets.

The ability of the described dispensing opening arrangement to efliciently dispense sheets one by one, even when the bonds between the sheets are of extra strength, does not detract from the emasaaaes ciency of the arrangement when the bonds are of normal or less than normal strength.

As a practical matter the strength of the bonds and the softness or stiffness of the tissue sheets varies from time to time due to unavoidable variations in the pulp from which the sheets are made and variations in the operation of the equipment employed in making the sheeting. Due to the described action of the narrow, transverse, more or less pointed end dispensing opening edges on the sheets, such variations in the sheeting and bonding do not impair th ability of the described dispensing slot arrangement to dispense the sheets one by one.

As already indicated, the bonding of the successive sheetshas been considered desirable both in respect of the production of the interfolded sheets and in respect of insuring successive automatic dispensation thereof from the cartons. By the described dispensing opening construction th importance of the bonds for dispensing purposes is largely eliminated inasmuch as the gathering together of the sheets has the effect of producing adequate frictional gripping of one sheet upon the leading end of the succeeding sheet to insure its initial passage through the dispensing opening. However, in connection with very deep cartons, for example, such as shown in Figures 9 and 10, which may contain in the neighborhood of 1,000 sheets and which may be in the neighborhood of 8" in depth, there would continue to exist some danger that when the level of the stack of sheets within the carton becomes low, the gathering effect would not reach the leading end of a succeeding sheet soon enough to invariably insure its withdrawal through the dispensing opening. However, by the provision of the front wall dispensing opening arrangement as shown in Figures 9 and 10, such difiiculty is effectively overcome since the sheets may be withdrawn more or less horizontally so as to eliminate the relatively long vertical lift which might in some cases permit a succeeding sheet to separate from its preceding sheet as above explained. The described structure is highly desirable not only because it insures continuous dispensation of the sheets one by one, but also ,becauseit presents the leading end of a sheet in readily accessible, upwardly projecting position, so that a sheet may be withdrawn very quickly.

A further advantage resides in the fact that the accessible portion of the sheet being more or less gathered together, it presents to the grip of the person withdrawing the sheets a plurality of folds, so that but little likelihood of the leading end of thesheet being torn with an attendant impairment of the condition of the sheet.

The dispensing opening being relatively small, is proportionately effective to keep dust and other foreign matter out of the carton. Also, it will be observed that because of the generally ver-- tical position of the projecting sheet portion, but little, if any, dust will settle on such projecting portion within the usually short time any one sheet remains in such projecting position before being withdrawn from the carton.

The described package structure ofiers no difllculty whatever in production since the dispensing opening arrangements maybe provided by suitably scoring the carton to facilitate removal of portions thereof to provide the described openings. In the normal production of cartons or boxes such as herein contemplated a web of selected paper stock is propelled in an endwise direction and is subjected to the required scoring and blanking operations. Normally, a blank for such a carton or box is laid out so that the length of the box, 1. e., its dimension from end to end, is in the direction of the width of the web. Hence the scoring for the transversely extending, elongated dispensing opening will normally extend in the direction of the length of the web and in the direction of the grain of the web. Under such circumstances, the removal of the scored area of the box to provide the dispensing opening is most easily accomplished since the paper board will tear most easily in the direction of its grain.

In respect of the lipped dispensing opening constructions, the lines of slitting which permit separation of the lips may initially be in the form of lines of scoring which may be broken by the application of sufficient pressure to the carton walls adjacent such lines of scoring, or if desired, they may be fully slitted and other \provision made for maintaining the slitted ears in closed position until the package reaches the hands of the ultimate consumer. For example, the packages may be wrapped in any of the transparent wrappings which are now popular for package wrapping.

Various changes in the described construction may be made and the location of the dispensing openings changed without departing from the spirit of the invention, the scope of which should be determined by reference to the following claims, the same being construed as broadly as possible, consistent with the stat of the art I claim:

1. A package comprising a stack of interfolded sheets, a box of rectangular form enclosing said stack of interfolded sheets and having dimensions corresponding approximately to the width and length of the stack of sheets, said stack terminating in top and bottom parallel planes, said box having a single dispensing opening formed entirely in the wall thereof and at least partially in a plane extending parallel to the top and bottom planes of the stack permitting successive withdrawal of the sheets, the interfolding of such sheets serving to cause the leading end portion of each sheet to be withdrawn from the box automatically as an incident to the complete withdrawal of a preceding sheet, said opening being formed to provide a long, narrow slot having tapered ends and having the length or greater dimension thereof arranged substantially normal to the folded edges of the sheets and being positioned to arrange its smaller dimension or width in the direction of the width of the sheets and it greater dimension or length in the direction of the length of the sheets, whereby, when the sheets are withdrawn through said opening, the sheets will be gathered transversely of their width to such an extent that the normal tendency of the sheets to spring back to ungathered condition causes the sheets to frictionally engage the edges of said dispensing opening with sufficient force to prevent gravitation of the withdrawn leading end portions of the sheets back into the box, the gathering of said withdrawn leading end portions serving to stiffen and cause the same to project from the walls of the box in readily graspable position.

2. A package comprising a stack of interfolded sheets, a box of rectangular form enclosing said stack of interfolded sheets and having dimensions corresponding approximately to the width and length of the stack of sheets, said stack terminating in top and bottom parallel planes,

said box having a single dispensing opening formed entirely in the wall thereof and in a plane extending parallel to the top and bottom planes of the stack permitting successive withdrawal of the sheets, the interfolding of such sheets serving to cause the leading end portion of each sheet to be withdrawn from the box automatically as an incident-to the complete withdrawal of a preceding sheet, said Opening being formed to provide a long, narrow slot having tapered ends and having the length or greater dimension thereof arranged substantially normal to the folded edges of the sheets and being positioned to arrange its smaller dimension or width in the direction of the width of the sheets and its greater dimension or length in the direction of the length of the sheets, whereby, when the sheets are withdrawn through said opening, the sheets will be gathered transversely of their width to such an extent that the normal tendency of the sheets to spring back to ungathered condition causes the sheets to frictionally engage the edges of said dispensing opening with sufficient force to prevent gravitation of the withdrawn leading end portions of the sheets back into the box, the gathering of said withdrawn leading end portions serving to stiffen and cause the same to project from the walls of the box in readily graspable position.

3. A package comprising a stack of interfolded sheets, a box of rectangular form enclosing said stack of interfolded sheets and having dimensions corresponding approximately to the width and length of the stack of sheets, said stack terminating in top and bottom parallel planes, said box having a single dispensing opening formed entirely in the wall thereof and at least partially in a plane extending paralle1 to the top and bottom planes of the stack permitting successive withdrawal of the sheets, the interfolding of such sheets serving to-cause the leading end portion of each sheet to be withdrawn from the box automatically as an incident to the complete withdrawal of a preceding sheet, said opening being formed to provide a long, narrow slot and having the length or greater dimension thereof arranged substantially normal to the folded edges of the sheets and being positioned to arrange its smaller dimension or width in the direction of the width of the sheets and its greater dimension or length in the direction of the length of the sheets, whereby, when the sheets are withdrawn through said opening, the sheets will be gathered transversely of their width to such an extent that the normal tendency of the sheets to spring back to ungathered condition causes the sheets to frictionally engage the edges of said dispensing opening with sufllcient force to prevent gravitation of the withdrawn leading end portions of the sheets back into the box, the gathering of said withdrawn leading end portions serving to stifien and cause the same to project from the walls of the box in readily graspable position. KENNETH J. HARWOOD. 

